


gasoline

by sansrival



Category: PRISTIN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Escort Service, F/F, No explicit smut, bc i'm shy, escort!minky au, feat. wonwoo who gets shafted i'm sorry 17 stans, just know it happens ;), rated T for menTions of sex..ha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-14 16:42:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10540446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansrival/pseuds/sansrival
Summary: There's gasoline in your heart. There's fire in mine.





	1. there's always nighttime

**Author's Note:**

> minkyebin 2-parter yes minky is an escort & yes this is my first minkyebin fic pls go easy on me  
> inspired by concussion (2013) & alpine's gasoline (great song btw). cross-posted on aff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a light I've found in your eyes that I've never found in mine.

Yebin is exhausted. Both mentally and physically.

The physical part, she can understand and deal with. The mental part is tiresome.

“Seems like you beat a personal best every practice. Good work," the coach says to her as he hands her a water bottle. 

Yebin smiles at him. “Thanks, coach.”

She feels an arm wrap around her shoulders and turns to find Wonwoo grinning at their coach.

“And you, Jeon. Keep it up and you might just get that first runner position in the relay that you won’t stop bugging me about.”

“I’m determined, coach,” he replies with a salute before turning to Yebin, "Let’s go home.”

He flashes her his token handsome smile. (And she believes it, for a second.) The coach makes some humorous quip about love birds before sending them off.

The ride home is silent, save for the distasteful rap music that Wonwoo plays on the radio. Yebin spends the entire time staring out the window. When they arrive at their shared apartment, Wonwoo claims the shower first and then jets off immediately after, saying something about a psychology tutoring session in the library.

Yebin goes to sleep by herself that night.

**&**

Yebin would think the growing distance between her and Wonwoo would be strikingly obvious by now, but it seems they’re both so used to putting on a show in public that they just automatically go on campus couple mode around their friends. The two of them grabbed attention without even trying; of course, how couldn’t they, when they were two of the university’s top track athletes. Practically household names in the world of collegiate athletics, they are (were?) a love story worthy of a headline.

But the lines blurred a while ago. Love fizzles, unsurprisingly. Still, Yebin goes along with it – or maybe Wonwoo is the one who goes along with it. Who knows, they both think they’re still in it for the sake of the other.

Yebin knows why they haven’t broken up though. They’ve been together for so long – four years officially, nine if you count the years they were “just friends”. They even thought moving in together would be a great idea, but Yebin regrets it now after realizing that she really wasn’t ready to see him that often.

But her family is in another city and all her friends have places of their own. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go. And it’s the same for him. They’re just so used to each other and it’s so terribly ironic that she can’t really imagine her life without him.

Which is why she doesn’t say anything when she sees Wonwoo get close to another person at a party one night, or when Wonwoo goes out and doesn’t return until the next morning, or when she hears him mumble someone else’s name in his sleep.

And truth be told, Yebin doesn’t feel anything at all. Maybe she would’ve half a year ago and maybe even shed some tears in a bathroom (it wouldn’t be the first time), but not now.

Now, she’s just bored.

**&**

Yebin hears her friends talk about it over lunch one day after a conversation about friends with benefits (Jieqiong’s got a new _friend_ , apparently) turns into a riveting discussion about the sex industry.

She listens to them debate about the difference between prostitutes and escorts. Eunwoo says something about how escorts are “classier, they can wine and dine you, very professional!” and vehemently denies when Jieqiong suspects her of hiring an escort before.

“They’re basically the same, but an escort agency sounds a whole lot less sketchier than, I don’t know, a brothel.”

They turn to Yebin to ask for her opinion, but she just blinks at them, blank-faced, and shrugs. She doesn’t know what they expect her to say.

“Yebin’s not interested, she’s got her own Ken doll by the name of _Jeon Wonwoo_ to go home to every night,” Eunwoo teases.

“So, like I was saying, my cousin had a friend who used to work as an escort. The whole social escorts thing is kind of bullshit. They’re not just your fake girlfriend or boyfriend. You know, she said she never had a client who she _didn’t_ sleep with,” Jieqiong snickers,“And she got all defensive when my cousin called her a prostitute.”

“Well, duh, so would I. Prostitution is illegal,” Eunwoo quips, taking a sip from her milkshake.

“So my cousin changed it to call girl instead, but apparently she prefers the word escort. It’s a euphemistic thing, probably.”

Eunwoo hums and slaps Yebin’s hand away when she tries to steal a french fry.

“She said a lot of her clients felt disillusioned with their ordinary lives and that she provided an escape,” Jieqiong pauses to wriggle her eyebrows, “if you know what I mean _._ ” She and Eunwoo break into childish giggles.

Yebin’s ears perk up. An escape? That sounds like something she needs.

**&**

Plagued by boredom (too often, nowadays), her friends’ conversation floats into her head uninvitingly and Yebin ends up grabbing her laptop, opening an incognito window on her browser, and searching for escorts in the city.

Out of pure curiosity, she tells herself.

She browses through several websites, from ones that look outright sketchy to ones that could be mistaken for global corporations. Eventually, she stumbles upon a first-rate agency that seems reputable.

 _I mean, their website is pretty nice…_ Yebin thinks to herself. The testimonies from clients seem bona fide ( _but, well, it’s not like they’d put negative reviews on their website…_ )

It’s expensive. Clients pay per night, not per hour, but are assured that they’ll get a worthy payoff. (Whatever that means.) Yebin feels weirder the longer she stays on the website.

But when Wonwoo doesn’t return home for the third night in a row and texts her a measly pathetic excuse, Yebin acts on a whim and books a girl for a night. 

**&**

“Is this…normal?” Yebin questions.

She’s in a coffee shop tucked away in a backstreet cul-de-sac north of the city. She only comes to this side of Seoul once or twice a year for a track meet since the campus and her apartment are in the southern side.

Yebin had been told by the agency that the escort she chose requests to meet up with her clients beforehand. Yebin thought it was unusual, but she was intrigued. Besides, she was told they’d meet in public so any risk of being kidnapped and murdered was significantly lessened. (That’s a relief, at least.)

The woman sitting on the other side of the booth looks at her peculiarly. Yebin tries not to squirm under her gaze, but the woman’s eyes beguile.

She’s an intimidating sort of beauty, but with an elegant charm akin to a daughter straight out of Pyeongchang-dong and its gable-roofed properties rather than a place like Gangnam. Eunwoo was right; escorts are another level of class.

Yebin suddenly feels shy and opts to look around the coffee shop instead.

“I wouldn’t know,” the other woman finally says with a friendly tone. Yebin snaps her head back, momentarily forgetting the question she had asked before it finally popped back in her mind.

She lets out a nervous chuckle. “Why not? I mean, you’re a…” Her voice drifts off as her eyes wander. Yebin knows their conversation would just blend in with the chitchat, coalescing into the bustling murmur of any other coffee shop. But still, she keeps her voice low. “…You know.”

“Well, I’ve never hired an escort myself before, so,” the other woman replies, opening a packet of sugar to pour into her coffee. “I wouldn’t know.”

Yebin winces at the word escort and self-consciously glances around. _Did anyone hear that?_ “Right, of course.”

They fall into a silence and Yebin fears the awkwardness, so she takes out her phone and glances briefly at the email she had received from the agency.

“So, um…Roa,” the name of the woman feels as unfamiliar as the situation. Yebin knows it can’t possibly be her real name. “Why are we doing this? Whatever this is… What is this again?” She motions to their general surroundings.

Her company brings the cup to her lips, but stops just short of her mouth. Her peculiar gaze returns from behind the cup. “We’re having coffee.”

“Why?” Yebin asks. She herself wonders why she’s even going through with this. She has practice in the afternoon. Maybe this was a bad idea. 

The so-called Roa cuts to the chase. “I’m selective.”

Yebin shifts in her seat. This feels a little too methodical and a little too lofty for her liking, but Roa seems to have read her mind.

“That was just a pretentious way to say that I don’t want strangers,” she pauses. “I meet with all of my clients first.”

“So, what is this? Like…a prelude pillow talk?” Yebin tries not to laugh at herself for even uttering those words out loud.  _Prelude pillow talk..._

Roa takes a sip from her coffee cup, but only after Yebin catches her crack a small smile behind it. _Gotcha_.

“No,” Roa says, amused, “this is coffee.”

Yebin smiles. _Okay. This is coffee._

**&**

Their first session, Yebin is nervous. Of course, how couldn’t she be?

It’s not her first time (nor is it her first time with a girl either, but that’s a story for another day), but it _is_ her first time with a stranger (though the coffee "date" did help a bit), her first time hiring someone, her first time staying this long on this side of the city, and her first time spending a night in an apartment she has never stepped foot in before. That’s a lot of firsts she’s facing all at once. Of course she’s nervous.

The taxi ride was long and she’s far from home and the campus, but Yebin couldn’t be any more grateful. She doesn’t have to worry about seeing a familiar face on this side of the city. Besides, the distance makes it easier for her to believe that she could leave her entire life behind for just a little while.

She told Wonwoo she was meeting up with a friend, simple and plain as that. He just hummed from behind his phone screen and didn’t even question her.

Roa had opened the door within seconds of Yebin’s knocking. It’s a studio apartment on the seventh floor. Spacious and neat, Yebin thinks it looks far too contrived and artificial. She wonders if it’s just a place Roa’s escort agency had provided for her for the sole purpose of doing her job. She wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

Roa greets her casually. It's clear her elegance has transformed into a chic sort of charm ( _is this part of her job?_ ). Yebin is taken aback by her informal way of speaking only after meeting once for coffee, but she doesn’t let it faze her. She wants this. She needs this, perhaps. She came here for one thing and one thing only. After all, it’s this single-thought mindset that helps her wins all those races.

Roa offers her alcohol. Yebin doesn’t hesitate to accept.

Sensing the other girl’s slight nervousness, Roa speaks up. “Do you want to talk first?”

Yebin gazes back at the nonjudgmental eyes carefully studying her. They’re strangely even more enticing than when she saw them for the first time in the coffee shop (or maybe it’s the alcohol).

“That’s what the coffee was for,” she replies.

She finishes her drink in one gulp as the other woman lets out a chuckle. When Roa surges forward and takes her breath away, Yebin reciprocates and lets herself forget about everything else.

**&**

The second time around was completely spontaneous.

To put it briefly, Wonwoo had pissed her off. Typical. This time, it was Yebin who stormed out of their shared apartment. Out on the curb, she hails a cab. Yebin doesn’t apologize when she accidentally slams the door of the taxi close. She’s in desperate need to unwind, to let out her aggression. Her bank account can afford to take a hit.

And luckily, Roa happens to be available tonight.

Again, Roa opens the door for her within seconds of her knocking. They waste no time. Roa had just shut the door when Yebin shoves her against it, brazen and unabashed.

Yebin’s hands explore boldly. She kisses sloppily. Her fingers fumble with the buttons of their clothing when she tries to take them off. It’s hasty and amateurish, but Roa is compliant and accepts it submissively. She figures out quickly that Yebin needs to let off some steam when she feels teeth sinking into her bottom lip and a forceful tug of a belt loop. It’s different from their first session when Roa remembers the other girl tensing beneath her.

But today, Yebin doesn’t falter, even if she may seem a bit inexperienced. And quite frankly, Roa doesn’t mind it one bit.  

Yebin moans into the kiss and both of them know it’ll be a long night. The alcohol on the counter remains unopened.

The next day, Yebin wears a jacket over her track uniform to cover the hickeys and the nail marks from the night before. When Wonwoo questions her, she tells him she is cold. He doesn’t pry any further.  

**&**

The third time, Yebin is absolutely determined to lose her inhibitions.

Roa offers her alcohol first like usual and Yebin drinks all her reservations away, only affording to do so since her next race was still three weeks away and her coach had cancelled practice the next day. Wonwoo had gone out to celebrate with his friends again without her.

Yebin deserves this, she thinks.

Tasting the champagne off her lips, Roa asks her, low and sultry, “What’s the occasion?”

“I won all my races today,” Yebin answers breathlessly, “and set a new regional record…” she threads her fingers through soft brown hair, “…for the eight hundred-metre run…” her eyes flutter close when she feels lips ghost over her jaw, “…I finished in a little over two minutes…”

“I can finish you in a little over two minutes.”

Roa’s hot breath tickles her earlobe and Yebin can’t help but let out a low chuckle. But a pair of lips promptly shuts her up as a hand slips into her underwear.

For the first time outside of the track, Yebin feels her stamina is about to be tested. But she can handle it. She’s a record holder, after all.

**&**

It’s six p.m. in the evening when Yebin is struck with the gravity of her situation head on like a train. She’s in the music building on campus, washing her hands in the public washroom, when a stall behind her opens.

And out steps Roa.

Yebin’s eyes nearly pop out of her head in disbelief as she whips around to face the woman. She can tell Roa is equally surprised.

But before either of them could speak a word– or, more realistically, Yebin bolts out of there as quickly as possible– they are interrupted by someone else.

“Yebin!” comes Eunwoo’s voice as the restroom door swings open. She spots Roa and promptly folds to a ninety-degree bow without hesitation, straightening back up with a, “Oh, good evening sunbaenim.”

Wait. What? _Sunbaenim_? Did Yebin hear that correctly?

She feels the ground opening up to swallow her.

“Hi Eunwoo,” Roa greets kindly, but tentatively. Yebin senses it in her voice. “Good luck on your recital tonight.”

Eunwoo beams at her like a girl scout saluting her scout leader. Yebin feels very strange. “Thank you, sunbaenim, I’ll make sure to give everyone a performance you’ll be proud of!”

Eunwoo turns to Yebin and motions her over. “Are you done? Jieqiong and the others are waiting in the audience!”

Without sparing the other tall brunette in the washroom another glance, Yebin scurries out and takes off before the black hole looming over her could devour her. 

As soon as they were out of earshot from the washroom, she hooks an arm with Eunwoo and whispers, “Who was that?”

“Who? Oh, the girl in the washroom? That was Minkyung sunbaenim.”

 _Minkyung_? “Minkyung?” Yebin echoes her thoughts out loud.

“Sunbaenim,” Eunwoo adds pointedly. “She’s a senior I respect very much. Well, all seniors should be respected. But her especially.”

Yebin feels dread creep up on her. “Why?”

Her friend gives her an incredulous look. “What do you mean ‘why _’_? I’ve told you this before, she’s the president of the Music Department’s student council!”

Yebin finds out her disbelief is far too obvious when Eunwoo suddenly stops walking and looks at her curiously.

“Why are you so surprised?”

Yebin shakes her head. “Nothing, it’s just… You always talk about her, but this is my first time seeing her. That’s all.” _Bullshit_.

“Well, she _is_ jaw-droppingly pretty, isn’t she?” Eunwoo shoots her a playful wink and nudges her before walking off. “But don’t forget, you have a boyfriend!”

“Uh huh,” Yebin murmurs in a daze.

Uh oh.

Her two lives aren’t supposed to collide like this. They’re supposed to exist separately in orbital resonance, like Jupiter and its trojans, present and influencing each other but never colliding. Because collision means trouble.

And this is certainly a bolt from the blue that Yebin was not prepared for.

**&**

Yebin is unsure how to go on after what might’ve just been the weirdest night of her life.

Firstly, if she could, she wants to apologize to Eunwoo. She had not spared her best friend even a minute of her attention during the recital, one of the biggest nights of her life, since Yebin had been too preoccupied with someone else.

Namely, the master of ceremonies for the night. Kim Minkyung, the Music Department’s student council president; dignified, pretty, put-together, and, as Yebin had found out after her standing ovation-worthy performance, also possessed the voice of an angel.

Not that Yebin has never heard her sing before – _unless a string of incoherent whimpers and moans doesn’t count as…nevermind_. Yebin shakes her head of the inappropriate thought.

She calls up Roa– Minkyung– Roa– whichever. Yebin has no intention of using her…services…and she knows she’s paying to see the other woman, but Yebin figures she can spare some cash for this. Whatever this is. She needs to sort out her thoughts. It felt too weird sitting in that audience watching the woman on stage and pretending like she’s never seen her before (when she has seen all of her and more.)

As usual, Roa opens the door within seconds of Yebin’s knocking. She walks in hesitantly, as if it was her first time there all over again.

If Yebin was to be honest with herself, she had not prepared what to say beforehand. So she stands, fiddling with her fingers, before finally managing to string together some words. “You go to my school.”

What are the chances? Yebin knows that it’s really not all that surprising, a lot of escorts are college girls needing the money, but still, out of all the universities in Seoul, it had to be the same one as hers? It’s a revelation she did not prepare herself for.

Roa already has the alcohol out, but Yebin isn't interested in drinking tonight.

“And your name is Minkyung–“

“It’s Roa to you,” the other woman interrupts abruptly.

“No, I know,” Yebin stammers as she crosses her arms. “Just…sorry, but this is a bit of a…mindfuck right now. I mean, you–“ she gestures, “here – there – and Eunwoo! – Music Department...I mean, Student council preside _–_!“

Roa butts in once again, this time by stepping forward and tugging Yebin into a kiss.

Yebin gets a taste of the champagne from soft lips and the tongue threatening to slip in, but she musters the self-control to push Roa away before she loses her senses.  

Roa wipes her lips with the back of her hand. “It happens. You see your escort in public. You’re supposed to pretend like you don’t know each other. Unless you want to out both of us, though I'd prefer if you didn't.”

She lifts Yebin’s chin up gently with her hand and _oh, how could someone's eyes be this captivating?_  and goes in for another kiss, but that doesn’t last long either.

Yebin breaks it apart much quicker this time. Roa tries to hide her frustration, but Yebin can see it in the twitch of her nose. She’s noticed it before, especially when Roa grows impatient with her teasing. Yebin found it cute, but it’s not supposed to be cute right now.

“What do you want me to do?” Roa asks her, taking a step back to give Yebin space.

“This isn’t right.”

Roa lets out a small scoff. “I’m an escort, Yebin. If you want to stand there and give a lecture, be my guest. Just know that you’re paying to be here and that it’d be a waste of both time and money.”

Yebin shifts on her feet. “This is just…weird now. I’m not really sure what to feel about it.”

“…You can always hire another escort, you know. It’s up to you,” Roa tells her. 

 _I don’t want another escort_ , Yebin wants to say, but it never transpires into spoken words. Instead, she suddenly asks, “Why are you doing this?”

Roa pours herself another glass of champagne. “Don’t you know you’re not supposed to ask an escort that?”

“I’m sorry, it’s a little hard for me to pretend that you’re not Kim Minkyung.”

“And I'm sorry, but that’s a problem you'll have to deal with on your own,” Roa says, putting down her glass before sauntering towards Yebin. “To you, right now in this space, I’m Roa. Not Kim Minkyung. And to me, you’re Yebin. Not Kang Yebin, university track star, big name on campus, supposedly in a happy relationship with hot shot Jeon Wonwoo. Just Yebin, client number four.”

Yebin would be lying to herself if she didn’t feel it prick when Roa had downgraded her to just being a _client._ Not that it wasn’t true, Yebin knew that, but still. It stung a bit.

She reminds herself that their entire relationship is just an arrangement, a transaction, but then Roa stops right in front of her and Yebin can’t help herself.

“I don’t want to be ‘just Yebin, client number four’,” she says without much thought. It leaves her lips before she could take it back. Long slender fingers tuck hair behind her ear.

“Well, I know you don’t want to be track star Kang Yebin girlfriend of Jeon Wonwoo either. So,” Roa says, voice just barely above a whisper as if they weren’t the only two in the apartment, “Who are you?”

“Kang Yebin,” she replies in a whisper, her eyes flickering to the slightly parted pink lips in front of her, luring her forward as if they had some sort of gravitational pull. “Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“Well, Kang Yebin,” Roa leans in closer to hover just inches away, eyes locked on her, “do you still want to lecture me or do you want to get your money’s worth?”

Yebin answers by softly tugging the hem of Roa's shirt, pulling her closer until they were pressed against each other. She thought she didn’t really want to do this, but really, who is she kidding? ( _She wants this._ )

“Correct answer.” Roa grins against her lips as she closes the gap between them.

Yebin learns her name is Minkyung, but it’s ‘Roa _’_ that rolls off her tongue languidly as she caves in and surrenders to her desires that night.

Seven floors up and miles away from Yebin’s life south of the city, they set the apartment ablaze in the nighttime against the backdrop of Seoul’s cityscape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohhh we are not done here yet


	2. can you feel?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wish it wasn't just the nighttime.

It’s during the morning after when Yebin notices a lot of things she hasn’t noticed before.

And only because, for the first time, she wakes up before Roa and has some minutes to spare before her time is up. (If she overstays her welcome, Roa would be considered working overtime and Yebin would have to pay extra.)

Initially, she had found the place to be far too contrived to be anything more than an apartment furnished to Roa by her escort agency. But then she notices certain idiosyncrasies that stick out like a sore thumb at the crack of dawn.

For instance, the pile of music sheets on the coffee table with a pair of circular wire-framed glasses sitting on top like a paperweight. A grocery list held up by a touristy magnet of the Gyeongbokgung Palace on the fridge. A cup of ramen sitting on the counter with a pair of chopsticks sticking out. A set of keys hanging just above the light switch. Aside from Yebin’s shoes, there are rain boots as well and some sneakers, including a very overused-looking pair of Converse All Stars.  

It’s not just a workplace. It’s a home.

And Yebin sees all this from the comfort of the bed only by gazing around. She had avoided looking to the left towards other woman sleeping soundlessly beside her.

Scratch that. Not soundlessly.

Low mumbling catches Yebin’s attention as she finally turns her head.

Roa’s lips are slightly parted and their sullied appearance, proudly defiled by Yebin, is a stark contrast from the rest of her face. Bangs fall over eyes that are magnetically enticing when open, but pretty and peaceful when closed. Her cheeks are still a bit flushed from the night before, but Yebin thinks the pink hue looks oddly endearing.

She’s quite pretty, Yebin thinks. It was Roa that she had spent the night with, but as Yebin glances at the sleeping mumbling girl beside her, she can’t help but think it’s Minkyung whom she’s waking up next to.

Minkyung. A charming name for a charming face. It fits her. Yebin wonders if she likes it more.

Wait, no. _Why am I thinking about this…?_

She shakes her head just as _Minkyung_ stirs awake with a groan.

Yebin immediately sits up, clutching the blanket to her chest as she looks for her discarded shirt.

“Good morning,” Minkyung murmurs, her voice muffled by the pillow, “Have some coffee before you go.”

Yebin kindly declines her offer. It felt far too domestic for her liking. After all, she pays strictly for Roa’s services, not for Minkyung’s coffee. She has to be careful, she thinks. It’s a precariously thin line she’s treading; one misstep and she’s a goner.

“Did you know you talk when you sleep?” Yebin points out as she dresses herself with the same clothes she came in the night before.

“No I don’t,” Minkyung immediately replies.

“Yeah you do.”

“Nope.”

“I heard you.”

“What did I say?”

“They weren’t real words.”

“Then it’s not really talking.”

“Fine, you sleep mumble.”

Minkyung tosses and turns to lie on her stomach, not caring when the blanket slips down to her waist and exposes her upper body. Yebin feels her cheeks burning up at the sight of long brown hair cascading down the bare back. There were less nail marks than usual, but the few that could be seen were deep ( _it was one of those nights_ ).

“Well, I have to go now,” Yebin says, “Thank you for the night.”

It still feels a little strange to her; saying thank you to the person she slept with. She’s never even thanked Wonwoo. (But perhaps he never really deserved it anyways.) But then again, Yebin thinks this is common courtesy towards an escort, especially after a job well done.

Minkyung – no, Roa – Minkyung – _Roa_ mumbles as if she’s on the verge of dozing off again. Usually, she would her client off at the door with a wicked smirk, inviting them to return again.

But Yebin figures she must be tired and lets her off this time, so she slips out of the apartment quietly to let Minkyung fall back asleep.

**&**

Yebin lets out a long exhale.

“You…are incredible. Like, mind-blowingly…good god, you put the _power_ in power bott–”

Yebin catches herself, wide-eyed, and promptly gets off the older girl beneath her. She realizes it’s already too late to take back her words when a honeyed laugh sweet to the ears comes from Roa’s direction.

“Thanks.”

“I-I…didn’t mean to say that out loud…” Yebin sheepishly confesses.

Roa takes the pillow Yebin had been hiding behind and smirks at her. “Why not? It’s a great compliment.”

Yebin chuckles to hide her embarrassment and turns to face the ceiling. “…I have a weird question.”

 “Try me.”

“Um, has anyone ever…” Yebin drifts off as she tries to figure out a way to word her question, “made you…you know….hit your peak?”

Roa snickers, visibly amused at Yebin’s euphemism especially considering what they had just finished doing. “You mean climax?”

Yebin blushes. _Way to be blunt…_

“Nope,” is Roa’s candid response.

“Really? Never?”

“That’s my job, not theirs.” Yebin can almost sense the proud smirk across Roa’s face. “Besides, they’re either too inexperienced or too experienced. Two extreme ends of the spectrum don’t get me off,” she confesses, as if they were talking about the weather.

Yebin scoffs. “I get the inexperienced part, but how can someone be too experienced?”

“Oh, you won’t believe how ahead people get of themselves. Usually, I can weed out the weird ones with the coffee meetups, but sometimes I get someone who pretended to be normal but is actually batshit crazy,” Roa replies.

Yebin hums and ponders for a bit, listens to her inner voice giving her a pep talk, and then turns to look at Roa, who had closed her eyes.

“So…none of your clients has ever come close?” she leans in, places a chaste kiss on Roa’s exposed collarbone, “…Not even me?”

Roa’s mouth tugs into a smirk when she feels Yebin’s lips grazing her skin, up her neck, over her jaw, leaving soft kisses along its path, until she reaches the corner of Roa’s upturned lips. _Are those goosebumps that she’s feeling…?_

“Honestly,” Roa murmurs, “you’ve come the closest.”

And when Yebin hears ( _feels_ ) the pleasant sigh that slips past Roa’s lips, that’s all she needs to go in for the dive.

Her inner self cheers her on for being so daring as she captures Roa in a languid kiss, her fingers reaching up to tangle themselves in the older girl’s hair. Roa reciprocates just as steadily as her, arms automatically wrapping around Yebin’s waist.

But then a loud alarm breaks Yebin out of her sweet, sweet cloud nine, like glass being shattered.

No, it’s not a dream (though it might as well be).

Roa breaks the kiss apart and blindly reaches over to turn off the alarm that would usually mark the end of their session.

“Can’t you just…go overtime for a few minutes…just this once…” Yebin murmurs yearningly into her lips, thumb caressing the area behind Roa’s ear.

Roa just hums before snipping the thread Yebin had been hanging on to. “Sorry, but your time is up, Kang Yebin. Unless you’re willing to pay,” she says, “again.”

Yebin groans. “Can’t make an exception for me?” she whines into Roa’s lips.

“Oh, I wish,” Roa says, “but I don’t make the rules.”

Yebin sighs and detaches herself, falling back to her side of the bed in disappointment. “I’m going to go broke because of you.”

“Thank you for being a loyal client.”

Yebin lets out a gruff _hmph_ , inciting a chuckle from Roa, who playfully pokes her on the cheek.

“I’m just kidding. Spend your money wisely.”

“Wise words from an…escort.”

“Oh yes, shattering degrading stereotypes, that’s me oh me,” Roa jokes. “But seriously, don’t choose an escort over having food on your plate.”

“Okay, I’m not that broke,” Yebin grumbles and ignores the fact that she would totally choose a night with Roa over food.

Truthfully, she thanks her gazillion relatives for her generous stash of birthday money and also her free-handed parents who won’t stop sending her money, no matter how much she insists. Perhaps, if she tells them she’s spending most of it on an escort, they’ll stop.

But of course, Yebin would never tell them that. She’ll have to think of another way. For now, she tells herself its her money and she gets to choose whatever she wants to spend it on.

And as she watches Roa – _Minkyung_ – rise from the bed, figure silhouetted against the sunlight coming in through the window, stretching her long slender arms above her head, and smiling at her, Yebin marvels at her circumstances.

_Sure, she’s expensive, but wow she’s worth it…_

And Yebin doesn’t regret spending a single buck to get a breath of fresh air after being underwater for so long.

**&**

The image of Roa ( _Minkyung_ ) in nothing but underwear, a white tee, and an apron had always been something that Yebin could’ve only dreamed of – an imagination that she never would’ve thought would actually come to fruition in reality.

And yet here she was now, lying amidst bedsheets she has grown so accustomed to, staring at the back of Roa ( _Minkyung?_ ) in nothing but underwear, a white tee, and an apron in front of the stove.

Yebin pinches herself to check if this was real life. ( _It is_.)

Two months have already flown by since Yebin first opened her laptop to browse websites of escort services for a whole hour before eventually settling on one. Back then, she had thought this would be just a one time thing, or maybe two – not a multiple times thing, often enough that she’d now be considered a regular with its added perks and all.

But Yebin knew if she wanted to spend some time with _her_ , she’d have to spend some money as well.

Once, the bank had even flagged her account; it turns out her sudden large amount of spending the past two months was rather suspicious… (She fixed the situation before Wonwoo could find out.)

Oh right. Wonwoo. They still live together and nothing had changed in the past two months. He still disappears at random times, but then again, so does Yebin. They never question each other. Sometimes, they’d have good days that would remind Yebin of their golden times and she’d even wonder if they would be okay again.

But then she would snap back to her disillusioned reality. The same old vapid, mundane reality.

At least she still had running. Breaking personal bests and winning races still gave her the adrenaline rush that she craves so often.

And Roa ( _Minkyung?_ ). She was ( _is_ ) a change. A breath of fresh air. An escape. Her own secret that no one else knows about. And everything in between. Yebin is captivated.

But recently, and this has started to worry Yebin, the line between Roa and Minkyung has been blurring. ( _Are they really two different people?)_ Yebin would find herself looking for excuses to visit the music building on campus more often and attend Eunwoo’s performances (again, she wants to apologize; it’s not really Eunwoo she’s there for). Whenever she’s with Roa, she’s all the other woman can see. But when she sees Minkyung, it’s like they’re complete strangers.

So of course, if Yebin was to be honest with herself, she’s in quite a predicament. Her two lives are dangerously close to clashing and it’s her own doing.

“Do you drink orange juice?”

Roa’s ( _Minkyung’s?_ ) voice snaps Yebin out of her thoughts. She blinks and turns towards the kitchen. She finds the other girl looking at her with those eyes she finds so charming, a wooden spatula in one hand and the other holding the fridge door open.

 _Minkyung_ (Yebin is sure of it now) in all her glory. This feels awfully homey (and is this warmth spreading in her chest…? Yebin wonders.)

“Sure,” she manages to answer, yet to snap out of her daze. 

“Cool,” Minkyung says, retrieving the jug of orange juice, “now get out of bed and come have some breakfast. Your time is almost up.”

 _Your time is almost up_. That certainly snapped Yebin out of her daze.

Right, she’s a client. And that is Roa (not _Minkyung_ ). Her escort cooking her breakfast is normal, this is an incall after all. It’s part of her job to treat her regulars; just one of the perks that came along with being a loyal customer. Routine, routine, it’s all part of a routine.  

Yebin drags herself out of bed and slips into clothes. Gotta eat before her time is up, wouldn’t want to be charged extra for going over the allotted time.

**&**

“He’s cheating on me, I’m sure of it,” Yebin murmurs.

“How do you know?” Roa asks her.

By now, they’ve seen each other often enough to engage in casual pillow talk about their ordinary lives. (Mostly Yebin, but on good days, she’d manage to pull out some details from _Minkyung_ ’ _s_ life too.) 

Unlike the breakfast, this was _not_ a part of the routine. Which means Roa doesn’t have to do this, but she does it anyways. And knowing that fact makes Yebin feel so giddy, her heart threatens to fly out of her chest with flapping wings.

“I think I’ve always known, but I just sort of ignored it.”

“How does it make you feel?”

Yebin thinks for a moment as she stares at the ceiling in the dark. “Nothing,” she pauses, “Is that weird?”

“No. It just means you really don’t like him any more. You’ve moved on before you even broke up, congratulations.”

“It’s weird. You know at one point, I really did love him. And he loved me back too. I don’t know what happened.”

“Shit happens,” as Roa so eloquently puts it. “You fall out of love. Now here you are, sleeping with girls.”

“ _A_ girl. One girl,” Yebin corrects her, “Sometimes, I think about breaking up with him. But like, it doesn’t feel right, you know? It’s always been just us two. It’s been like that for years.”

“You could try going on a break. Or maybe the Yebin & Wonwoo days are finally over.”

“Does that mean the Yebin & Roa days are on the horizon?” Yebin teases.

Roa – Minkyung – chuckles. “Babe,” she starts and Yebin feels her heart flutter, “haven’t they already started?”

Yebin can’t stop herself from grinning and Roa must’ve seen it in the moonlight because she starts laughing too.

“Oh, you liked that too much, didn’t you?”

“I like it a lot, maybe you should call me babe more often.”

“Will do,” Roa sings, “Anything for you. Babe, you have all of me at your fingertips, don’t you know?”

 _Damn, she’s good at this_. Yebin has to stop herself from falling (or maybe it’s too late…?). She almost believed it.

“You know…if the circumstances were different, I’d ask you out right here right now,” Yebin says boldly.

Roa hums. “And you know, behind that locked door, in this bed, it’s just you and me. And in our world, the possibilities are endless. You can do anything you want. Nothing is stopping you, Kang Yebin.”

Yebin’s breath hitches in her throat. “Don’t tease me like that, I almost fell for it.”

Roa lets out a giggle. She shifts positions and inches closer to Yebin, who feels familiar slender fingers drawing circles on her stomach under the blanket and Roa’s – _Minkyung’s_ – breath on her neck.

“Goodnight, Yebin.”

 _Damn, she’s_ really _good at this._ Yebin can’t deny it any more. She should’ve known it was too late to stop herself from falling and it earns her a chiding from her trusty inner self. _First with a friend-with-benefits and now, falling for an escort... Once again, you’re a walking talking cliché, Kang Yebin._

Hyperaware of Minkyung’s touch and the subtle flame it sends running through her skin, Yebin eases into her anyways and surrenders to the repose.

**&**

_You gotta make things happen, Kang Yebin._ She tells herself. _If you’ve got something good going, keep it going._

Yebin feels her two lives are about to clash; she just has to make sure it doesn’t happen explosively. Just in case things backfire, she wants to deal with as minimal damage control as possible.

_Stay cool, deep breaths, relax._

Despite repeating that mantra in her head over and over again, her current appearance begs to differ.

Standing outside the Music Department’s student council office, Yebin taps her foot nervously on the linoleum floor. She has never felt so high-strung in her life, not even when she’s crouched at the starting line of her most important race of the season.

Yebin forgets that she had already knocked when the door to the office flies open. She finds an unfamiliar face looking at her expectantly.

Yebin coughs. “Is…uh…is Kim Min…Kim Minkyung sunbaenim here?”

“She is, why?”

“Um, I would like to speak to her.”

The girl narrows her eyes and Yebin can already tell what she must be thinking: _isn’t this Kang Yebin? What does an athlete want to do with our student council president?_

Just as Yebin is about to explain herself, the girl opens the door wide to invite her in. She steps in cautiously and immediately sees her at a desk on the far side of the room, headphones on, guitar in her arms, a pen between her teeth, and eyebrows knitted in concentration too attractively.

Yebin suddenly feels her nervousness go up tenfold.

The girl who had opened the door for her walks up to Minkyung, greets her with a bow, and points towards Yebin, who remains frozen by the door.

When Minkyung takes off her headphones and glances at her, Yebin feels her heartbeat race faster than her on the track and she contemplates just bolting out of the room and backing out of this whole thing.

Minkyung is surprised to see her and Yebin is momentarily reminded of that time they first saw each other in public all that time ago in the women’s restroom the night of Eunwoo’s recital.

Both Minkyung and the girl look at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something, anything, until Yebin finally gathers her senses to speak up.

“Um, h-hello, Minkyung s-sunbaenim.” She hasn’t stuttered like this in a long time…specifically, nine years. Her nervous eyes go from Minkyung to the stranger who had opened the door for her.

Sensing Yebin’s discomfort, Minkyung puts her guitar down and stands up to dismiss her junior. The girl promptly scurries away only after another perfectly ninety-degree bow. Yebin wonders if Minkyung really is this revered of an upperclassman.

The girl exits the room, leaving the two of them alone. Yebin thought it would be less awkward with just the two of them, but the uncomfortable aura that settles begs to differ. The two of them have been alone in a room plenty of times before, but this is different.

And she is not alone with Roa. She’s alone with Minkyung.

Yebin is not used to this. Which is probably why she has not moved an inch from her spot near the door.

Minkyung breaks the silence looming over them like a gray cloud. “Kang Yebin. Hi.”

“…Hey,” comes Yebin’s delayed reply.

“What are you doing here?” Minkyung asks curiously.

“Um,” Yebin starts ( _cut to the chase, Yebin, make it quick_ ). She fast-walks towards the older girl nervously and trips on the carpet on the way ( _okay, not that quick_ ). Minkyung flinches and instinctively puts her hands out to grab her, but Yebin catches herself before anything dramatically cliché could occur.

“Be careful.”

Yebin blushes. When she finds herself standing right in front of Minkyung, she feels the red hue on her cheeks growing more vivid by the second.

 _Minkyung_ in faded jeans, a white blouse Yebin has never seen her wear before (though Yebin has mostly seen her not wearing any blouse, so…), and those very overused-looking pair of Converse All Stars. Pretty as always.

Minkyung catches Yebin’s eyes scanning her. “Do you…need to ask me something?”

Yebin’s head snaps back up immediately. Minkyung is considerably taller ( _how haven’t I noticed this before?_ )

“Yeah. Yes. I do. Uh, I was wondering if,” she rubs her palms on her jeans, “…if you were available…for, uh, maybe coffee, o-or something…”

Minkyung lifts an eyebrow. “Or something?”

 _Confidence, Yebin!_ She coughs and straightens her back, chin up. “Coffee. You and me.” _Confidence!_

“Why?”

Minkyung’s question catches her off-guard. Her shoulders drop a little. “Because,” Yebin says, her voice as small as she feels, “I want to take you out for coffee. There’s this café five minutes from campus that I frequent at.”

The lifted eyebrow turns into narrowed eyes (those eyes…still captivating as ever.) Minkyung tilts her head. “Are you…asking me out on a date?”

 _Yes! Yes._ “No.”

“Because that’s what it sounds like.”

“Okay, that’s exactly what it sounds like,” Yebin replies sheepishly.

Minkyung pauses for what seems like an eternity and Yebin feels like it’s the worse silence she has ever experienced in her life. _Say something, please say somethi_ –

“You have a boyfriend.”

“I broke up with him,” Yebin answers quickly. Seeing Minkyung’s surprised face, she explains immediately, “He came clean with the cheating. Turns out his psychology tutor was more than just a tutor. And uh…I told him what I’ve been doing too.”

Minkyung’s skeptical countenance urges Yebin to press on. “He was stunned at first. Then he was angry for a little bit, but he knew he messed up too, so I guess he dropped it quickly. We ended things between us.”

“…And?”

“And nothing. The end. I mean, we still live together because we split the rent…it’s a little awkward, but we’ll figure something out. We always do.”

Minkyung just looks at her for a few moments with an expression that Yebin desperately wishes she could read.

“So…you came here to…?”

Yebin nervously chuckles when she senses the uneasiness in Minkyung’s voice. “I’m not going to show up at your apartment with a moving truck, don’t worry.  And uh, I didn’t break up with him because of you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Our split was long overdue.”

Minkyung breaks into an amused smile and Yebin relaxes a bit (just a bit; her rabbit heart, on the other hand, beats too distractingly fast).

“So…coffee?” Yebin asks again in hope of a straight answer this time.

“Why are you asking me out on a date?”

 _More questions,_ Yebin internally groans, _if she’s gonna reject me, she needs to stop dragging it out!_ “Because I want to.”

“I thought you didn’t want your 'two lives to collide;,” Minkyung says, mimicking Yebin’s dreamlike tone. Yebin shifts embarrassingly on her feet; that maxim sounded a whole lot less cheesy in her head than when Minkyung says it out loud. “What happened to ‘Kang Yebin, nothing more, nothing less _’_?”

“Some things just happen to be out of my control,” Yebin answers, “And right now, I’m university track athlete Kang Yebin, no longer the girlfriend of Jeon Wonwoo. Here to ask _you_ , Kim Minkyung, the Music Department’s student council president, on a date. I…want to get to know you.”

“You already know me.”

“I know Roa, not Kim Minkyung. I want to know you.”

Minkyung smirks. “You move on pretty fast.”

“You said it yourself, I moved on before I even broke up with him,” Yebin counters. “So…yes to coffee?”

_Please stop dragging this out, it’s killing me slowly inside, don’t you know what you do to me?_

Minkyung purses her lips in thought. Yebin’s eyes flicker to them and she immediately gazes elsewhere, worried she’ll act on impulse and do something dangerous, especially when anyone could walk in at any time...

“I know you don’t want to say no because you would’ve said it by now.”

Minkyung laughs and Yebin almost swoons. “See, you already know me. As expected from my favourite client.” _Almost_ swoons.

“I want to know you more,” Yebin says confidently.

Minkyung looks at her in a way that makes Yebin’s palms sweat ( _why does she make me so nervous?_ )

“…You do know I work as an escort, remember… If things between us work out…would you really be okay with that?” Minkyung asks, her voice quiet as she bites her lip tentatively.

There’s genuine concern in Minkyung’s eyes, but the corner of Yebin’s lips tugs into a smirk for one reason only: “Did you just say you have faith in us actually happening?”

Minkyung blushes, visibly flustered, and Yebin fights back the urge to get up on her tiptoes and just kiss her right then and there.

Instead, she boldly takes a step a closer. Seeing this side of Minkyung gave her a confidence boost like no other.

“I’m starting slow. I can deal with _Roa_ and whatever else we’d need to deal with later. For now, I only had one question directed at _you_. So,” she says, “Kim Minkyung, how about you give me a chance and go out for coffee with me?”

Minkyung returns her gaze and Yebin is completely and utterly locked in, her heart fluttering on its wings when she feels Minkyung’s fingers graze hers.

Minkyung – not Roa, this was Minkyung now, Yebin is absolutely 100% sure of it – smiles at her.

“Okay. It’s a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope my overuse of ellipses and brackets and italics wasn't confusing...heh...thank you for reading, this was fun to write!


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